Kids & Nature Blog

This week marks our one year anniversary since we launched Super Nature Adventures. We want to take this moment to say thank you!

When we came up with the idea for Super Nature Adventures, we had no idea if our particular vision for kids’ nature materials would resonate.

In an app-filled world of sly games and ironic memes, we felt like we were taking a bit of a risk in crafting tactile, hands-on materials that openly embraced that infectious sense wonder that kids have in the natural world, and the silly sense of humor that adults tend to be “too mature” to appreciate.

It brings us so much joy to see kids connecting to nature through the materials we create. ​

We all know that Spring is a great time to see flowers, but that’s far from the only reason to get outdoors with your family this time of the year. Here are five other reasons Spring is a wonderful time of year for family outdoor adventures in the Pacific Northwest.

The Intimate Wonders of Spring MushroomsForagers already know that spring is a great time for mushrooms. Just like in the Fall, the moist cooler temperatures help fungi thrive. Spring welcomes a few distinct kinds of fungi, most notably the much beloved morels, as well as many of the same mushrooms that are abundant in the Fall. And sometimes it's hard to remember, but soon enough we’ll be in the drier season, and even though fungi won’t completely disappear, the peak season of intimate wonders will have passed.

Recently my daughter spent some time with worms. Slithery, slimy, earthworms. It was a nature connection moment that made her day. But she also made the day for several worms, too. Moved from certain shriveling to refreshingly moist dirt, these worms lives, spent working the soil, would continue thanks to a curious young girl.

At 5, my daughter remains charmed by the simplest of things: getting up close to minibeasts (a British word for bugs!), climbing trees, jumping off of rocks or stumps, noticing when our resident hummingbirds zip across our yard toward the feeder, pointing out the hoard of crows that make their presence known in the evening - the list could go on.

In last week’sblog post, I shared some tips for navigating the challenges of hiking with kids. This week, I want to turn the attention to parents.

More specifically, I want to focus on those of us who have trouble finding time for hiking...which is basically almost all of us!

Why do I say this? Because last year when we surveyed folksabout their biggest family hiking challenges, most mentioned a lack of time as a major barrier.

Parents said they felt too busy, too stressed, or sometimes just too exhausted to figure out how to schedule in outdoor time. ​What can you do to tackle this particular hurdle? I decided to look to writer Gretchin Rubin's work on habits as I came up with some some tips:

If you’ve been following us for a while you are probably familiar with our idea of Super Nature Finds. A "Super Nature Find" is what we like to call of those intimate wonders out in nature that we might have missed if we didn't take the time to slow down.

It could be almost anything in nature, really...A spring flower bud. A mushroom.A spider web. A honey bee.A leaf as it starts to turn colors. The lichen on the bark of a tree.The moss that returns on the sidewalk when the rains begin in the fall.

Did you know that November is a special time of year for bird watching? It's the peak month for migratory waterfowl to travel through our region.

We are celebrating this seasonal phenomenon with the launch of a very special packet about migratory birds and their wetland habitats. It focuses on one of the region's best preserved waterfowl habitats: Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Ridgefield, Washington.

Fall is one of the best times of the year to explore the forest for mushrooms. As the rains come, so does an array of fungi, popping up on rotting logs, among fallen leaves, and in the soil on the forest floor. Our Scouters Mountain Nature Park packet is our celebration of this fall wonder.